It's the French 'Odd Couple'

Updated 8:15 am, Friday, June 8, 2012

Anne Le (from left), Francois Cluzet and Omar Sy star in "The Intouchables," a French comedy that opens here today.

Anne Le (from left), Francois Cluzet and Omar Sy star in "The Intouchables," a French comedy that opens here today.

Photo: The Weinstein Co.

It's the French 'Odd Couple'

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The partnership between writer-directors Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache was sealed over Big Macs in a Paris McDonald's back in the mid-1990s. The result of that lunch was their first short, “Le jour et la nuit,” which they introduced to the world with a screening for family and friends.

“It was a big flop,” Toledano says. “They didn't talk about the movie. They talked among themselves as if the short didn't exist.”

In contrast, their latest feature, “The Intouchables,” has proved impossible to ignore, breaking box-office records in France and becoming the all time highest-grossing movie in a language other than English. It was nominated for nine Cesar Awards, including best picture, best director, best screenplay and two best-actor nominations, for stars Omar Sy and Francois Cluzet. Sy won, beating out “The Artist” Oscar winner Jean Dujardin and becoming the first black actor ever to win the award.

“The Intouchables” opens today in San Antonio.

It remains to be seen whether the winning streak will continue now that the film is opening in the United States, but the distributing Weinstein Co. also has purchased the English-language remake rights, so the company is clearly betting on success. Not bad for a small movie released in November with little fanfare.

“It was an unexpected success,” Nakache says. “It was low-budget. There were no big stars. Omar's career is just starting. Francois is more famous, but he's more art house. With this cast and that budget, and a story about a quadriplegic and a guy from the ghetto, it wasn't expected.”

It is a kind of odd-couple story. Sy plays Driss, a poor, uneducated Senegalese ex-con from Paris' projects who interviews for the job of aide to the wealthy, sophisticated Philippe (Cluzet), not because he wants to work, but because he wants proof that he applied for the position so that he can continue to collect the dole. Amused by his cheek, the aristocrat surprises the young man by hiring him, laying the foundation for one of those comedies in which complete opposites form a tight and unexpected bond.

The tale is based on the true story of Philippe Pozzo di Borgo, who — like the film's Philippe — became paralyzed in a paragliding accident, and Abdel Sellou, the poor Algerian immigrant who became his caretaker.

“The story was already a comedy,” Toledano says. “The guys had a relationship where a sense of humor is very important. It is by their sense of humor that they saved each other. That's how they met. What we loved in Philippe's personality, this guy even in the worst situation, he always wants to make a joke.”

Toledano and Nakache first worked with Sy, a charismatic 34-year-old actor, a decade ago when they cast him in their short “Ces jours heureux,” and then, in 2006, he had a supporting role in their feature “Those Happy Days.” The decision to change Algerian Sellou to Senegalese Driss had everything to do with their desire to work again with Sy.

“We've been working with Omar for a very long time,” Toledano says. “We wanted to create a film where he would be the lead character, and this was the perfect story.”

As “The Intouchables” begins its American run, Sy's role in the film has sparked controversy.

Critic Jay Weissberg, reviewing the film in the industry trade paper Variety, terms the film “offensive,” writing that it “flings about the kind of Uncle Tom racism one hopes has permanently exited American screens.” While charging Toledano and Nakache with creating “a role barely removed from the jolly house slave of yore,” Weissberg also emphasizes that the pair made a conscious decision to change reality's Arabic Sellou with the fictional black Driss.

The filmmakers recently addressed the issue in a blog on Huffington Post. They seem flummoxed when the issue arises in a recent conversation.

“For us, the French audience, whether the character is Arabic or African, it's exactly the same because it's a character who lives in the projects ... around Paris,” Toledano says. “In France, all the communities live together.”

“It's the same social group, and the identification is very clear,” Nakache adds. “You know he's a guy from the ghetto, how he's dressed, how he speaks, the accent of the guy.”

Whether the controversy will affect “The Intouchables,” American box-office prospects remains to be seen. No matter how one feels about Sy's role in the movie, it has undeniably cemented his status as a star, a far cry from when Toledano and Nakache first encountered him 10 years ago when his career was just beginning.

“The first time that we met Omar, we asked him to play in a short movie, and he said, ‘Guys, I can't play in it,'” Toledano recalls. “‘Why?' ‘Because I'm not an actor!' We said, ‘OK! Come on, we are not directors!' So we made this movie, and at the Cesars, Omar was sitting just in front of me and I asked him, ‘Are you an actor now?' ‘Yeah!'”

Toledano laughs. “He's an actor, but we didn't win the Cesar, so we are still not directors!”